Vest Financial LLC Acquires New Holdings in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK)

Vest Financial LLC bought a new position in Stryker Co. (NYSE:SYK) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 545 shares of the medical technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Stryker by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 32,698,828 shares of the medical technology company’s stock worth $11,773,213,000 after purchasing an additional 252,188 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 11,109,722 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $4,000,056,000 after acquiring an additional 54,693 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Stryker by 10.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 8,034,844 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,892,946,000 after acquiring an additional 727,850 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Stryker by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,073,562 shares of the medical technology company’s stock valued at $2,539,033,000 after acquiring an additional 168,436 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Stryker during the fourth quarter worth about $1,710,744,000. 77.09% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Stryker Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SYK opened at $384.15 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $370.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $375.87. The company has a market cap of $146.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 49.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.91. Stryker Co. has a 12 month low of $314.93 and a 12 month high of $406.19.

Stryker (NYSE:SYK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The medical technology company reported $2.84 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.73 by $0.11. Stryker had a return on equity of 23.58% and a net margin of 13.25%. The business had revenue of $5.87 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.50 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 11.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Stryker Co. will post 13.47 EPS for the current year.

Stryker Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 31st. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 30th will be given a dividend of $0.84 per share. This represents a $3.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.87%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 30th. Stryker’s payout ratio is currently 45.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SYK shares. Evercore ISI lowered their target price on shares of Stryker from $400.00 to $390.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Sanford C. Bernstein set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Stryker in a research report on Monday, May 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Stryker from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Stryker in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group set a $422.00 price target on shares of Stryker in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and fifteen have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $427.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Ronda E. Stryker sold 200,000 shares of Stryker stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $376.96, for a total transaction of $75,392,000.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 3,417,326 shares in the company, valued at $1,288,195,208.96. The trade was a 5.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 5.90% of the company’s stock.

Stryker Company Profile

Stryker Corporation operates as a medical technology company. The company operates through two segments, MedSurg and Neurotechnology, and Orthopaedics and Spine. The Orthopaedics and Spine segment provides implants for use in total joint replacements, such as hip, knee and shoulder, and trauma and extremities surgeries.